Centric Wealth Management Buys 3,398 Shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM)

Centric Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of SM Energy (NYSE:SM) by 5.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 65,665 shares of the energy company’s stock after buying an additional 3,398 shares during the quarter. Centric Wealth Management’s holdings in SM Energy were worth $2,893,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in SM Energy by 6.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 6,341,875 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $274,161,000 after acquiring an additional 384,675 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its position in SM Energy by 2,515.6% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 4,463,443 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $178,404,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292,793 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its position in shares of SM Energy by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,361,149 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $102,072,000 after buying an additional 28,005 shares during the last quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of SM Energy by 0.7% in the third quarter. River Road Asset Management LLC now owns 1,792,573 shares of the energy company’s stock worth $71,649,000 after acquiring an additional 12,669 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in SM Energy by 10.2% in the second quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 1,709,927 shares of the energy company’s stock valued at $73,920,000 after acquiring an additional 157,923 shares during the last quarter. 94.56% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SM shares. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of SM Energy from $65.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. raised shares of SM Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. StockNews.com lowered SM Energy from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $50.00 target price on shares of SM Energy in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on SM Energy from $62.00 to $57.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.09.

SM Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SM opened at $44.83 on Friday. SM Energy has a 1 year low of $34.13 and a 1 year high of $53.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 3.52 and a quick ratio of 3.52. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $43.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $44.56. The firm has a market cap of $5.13 billion, a PE ratio of 6.26 and a beta of 4.18.

SM Energy (NYSE:SM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.52 by $0.10. SM Energy had a net margin of 33.89% and a return on equity of 19.62%. The firm had revenue of $643.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $643.67 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.73 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that SM Energy will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

SM Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, November 4th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 25th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 25th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.78%. This is an increase from SM Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.18. SM Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 11.17%.

About SM Energy

SM Energy Company, an independent energy company, engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and production of oil, gas, and natural gas liquids in the state of Texas. It has working interests in oil and gas producing wells in the Midland Basin and South Texas. The company was formerly known as St.